Share “UCLA beats N. Carolina 4-1, advances to...”

UCLA beats N. Carolina 4-1, advances to CWS finals

Published on NewsOK
Modified: June 21, 2013 at 11:56 pm •
Published: June 21, 2013

Advertisement

UCLA's Brian Carroll (24), left, and Eric Filia (4) celebrate after scoring off a double hit by Pat Valaika (10) against North Carolina in the bottom of the seventh inning in Game 12 of the College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb., Friday, June 21, 2013. (AP Photo/The Omaha World-Herald/Matt Miller) MAGAZINES OUT; ALL LOCAL TV OUT

Berg struck out Parks Jordan, and the bases were loaded again when he walked Chaz Frank. When Lassiter's fly landed in Brian Carroll's glove, the Bruins' dugout emptied in celebration.

"I have the same approach every game — go there and try to get a pitch you can hit and see what happens," Lassiter said, "and we just fell short."

UCLA has held its opponents to two runs or fewer in 31 of 64 games and is 30-1 in those games.

Watson followed strong starts by Adam Plutko and Nick Vander Tuig with one of his own to help send the Bruins to the finals for the second time, and first since they were swept by South Carolina in 2010.

"I was trying to go pitch-to-pitch," Watson said, "and concentrate on hitting location since I know North Carolina has a bunch of great hitters. I knew I wasn't going to throw it by them at all. So I worried about locating."

Savage decided to go with Watson, who hadn't pitched in 19 days, instead of bringing back No. 1 starter Adam Plutko on four days of rest.

"I thought about it for less than five seconds," Savage said. "We know how good Grant is. He's been a big reason why we're here, and he was ready to pitch. I think he showed the whole country that he could pitch on a big stage."

Emanuel, the ACC player of the year and third-round pick of the Houston Astros, came into the game scuffling in the NCAA tournament. He had a 11.40 ERA over his last five appearances and didn't make it out of the third inning in the Tar Heels' CWS opener against North Carolina State.

The junior left-hander was solid in his 112-pitch outing. One of the two runs against him was unearned.

"Hopefully people feel like we played hard every game and represented college athletics and college baseball the right way," Fox said. "The winning is part of it certainly, but so many other special things went on throughout our season."